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Kodaikanal

VISIT TO KODAI

    Last weekend, my wife and I visited Kodaikanal from Saturday to Monday.

    We left on Friday night, taking the 9:15 p.m. KSRTC Rajhamsa Executive. While the bus wasn't air conditioned, the push-back button worked fine and considering that we were headed for the hills, we were comfortable. One week after Friday the 13th, I suppose I should have expected some trouble ;-)

    It began innocuously enough : before the bus started, the couple across the aisle noticed that their suitcase was missing. They had stepped out of the bus to answer the call of nature and in that brief interval, a man had made off with their suitcase. My natural caution made me insist to my wife to take her hand bag along when we also went out. I also kept the entrance of the bus in my sights at all time, though this was merely because the toilet was uncomfortably close to the bus (it stank a little!). It could just as easily have been our bag that was missing ! It was in the bus while we were away !

    The couple decided to continue with the trip anyway. They lost a camera and their clothes. I asked the man if he lodged a complaint but he said that it would not make any difference.

    The bus hit Hosur road soon enough since it had started after the peak hour had passed. The cool night breeze lulled both my wife and I to sleep, as best as we could. At 1:30 a.m. my sleep was disturbed since I found that the bus wasn't moving. My mobile phone told me that I was at Dandumaranapalya (or some place that sounds like that), probably beyond Krishnagiri.  Lying stacked in front of us was a seemingly endless convoy of trucks, vehicle carriers and transport buses ! Much to my surprise, we were caught in a traffic jam on one of the highways of south India !

    A few of the menfolk in our bus got down to see how bad the situation was and my thoughts went to the hotel booking I had made. I joined them and what I saw made for depressing viewing : there was no end in sight to the line of vehicles and no way that the jam could clear soon. On the opposite side, vehicles inched forward slowly but there was absolutely zero progress on our side.

    My thoughts went to "the worst case scenario" : what food had we stocked in our bags ?! Biscuits ? Chips ? Where was the nearest village ? Would one bottle of water be enough to tide over this bleak (hopeless, dark, unforgiving :-))) night ?! I was frustrated and irritated and I could see that sentiment in other people around me also.

    Actually, things could have been worse : if the jam had happened during the hot daytime and in summer, I am sure there would have been more frayed tempers. On the other hand, if it had been day time, perhaps the traffic would have been regulated better : one never knows !

    Our bus driver told me a non-commital "Let's see" when I asked him our chances of clearing the jam. I remembered the jam we had faced in Uttaranchal. Finally, resignation took over and I went back to my bus. Somehow, I managed to doze. At 3:00 a.m., I could hear our conductor guide the buses in front. It appeared that our line finally got moving. We inched ahead, joining the main road and then like a trickle of water becoming a flood, our speed also picked up !

    At 3:30 a.m., the worst of the traffic jam was behind us and we made good speed. I could feel the breeze from the window and soon could also hear the first cock crowing to herald the new dawn. My wife and I slept off and on again.

    The next morning, my wife pointed out the road construction activity in Tamil Nadu. It looks like most highways and roads are being upgraded and being done with a seriousness that is missing in Karnataka and Bengalooru in particular. We saw road engine operators and other labourers make their way to the road sites early in the morning itself. It is refreshing to see this kind of purpose, given the lethargic progress we see in Bengalooru !

    We passed Dindigul and stopped at a hotel for coffee. I brought chips and biscuits : there was no telling when we would be needing emergency rations ! Karur is also a bustling town en route to Kodai. Suma also remarked about how Byatalgundu looked like the towns in Kolar or Channarayapatna ! This town is at the foothills and soon after crossing it, our ascent to Kodai began.

    As the bus slowly mounted the hill, we were treated to spectacular sights of clouds obscuring the hills and then suddenly clearing it also. By the time we reached Kodai it was 12:30 p.m., a good 3 and a half hours behind the planned time.

    We walked to Kodai Resorts, 200 m away from the KSRTC bus stop. There was a light drizzle and it felt good to check in to our hotel room and stretch out on the comfortable bed ! Our room comprised a hall equipped with a TV which also opened into a balcony. The hall led to the bed room and there was an attached toilet to it. The room was clean.

    Kodai Resorts has a restaurant called Overdane. There is a fireplace retained from the original house. We ate lunch there and planned a brief siesta after lunch. The brief siesta turned out to be "not so brief" ! We woke up at 4:30 p.m. and went to Coaker's Walk. This is a circular walk around a small hillock. I had visited Kodai once and memories of the view from the walk came back to me. This time, the weather was cloudy and misty as seen in http://flickr.com/photos/fromkiran/2607207379/ and we missed the views. The good part was that the crowd was far lesser and we enjoyed the walk in the cool weather.

    Our next stop was the Kodai Lake. We saw tourists cycling around the lake and also a few others rowing on the lake. On that day, we were content to admire the lake from the shore. http://flickr.com/photos/fromkiran/2612690669/ shows a view of the lake. My wife picked up hand made earrings in the shops near the lake and we also drank tasty masala chai !

    That night, we ate a Chinese buffet dinner at Overdane.

    Kodai Resorts has a lovely garden full of various types of flowers and fruits. The trees are also labelled. The next morning, we saw pears, plums, dahlia, salvia and many other flowers that were a treat to watch. As usual with all hill stations, the sheer richness of the colours of the flowers was astounding. During our first lunch at Overdane, my wife pointed out that the flowers at the table were all natural unlike a few of the hotels back in Bengalooru which prefer plastic flowers ! I looked closely and saw that ALL the flowers were pink but had two yellow petals with lines of black on them on the top ! http://flickr.com/photos/fromkiran/2608038046/ shows the flowers. It is quite a sight to behold.

    After our morning walk in the garden, we were ready to take the day long sight seeing tour. We were in a bus whose seats had to be filled before the driver and guide decided to start ! At 10:40 a.m., we were off. Our first stop was Upper Lake View, which shows a scenic view of Kodai Lake from one of the hillocks. My wife's comment was that this was a good idea to make money : tomorrow, there could be a "Right Hand side Lake View", a "Left Hand side Lake View", etc. !!

    Our next stop was the Kodaikanal pine forest. This is a cultivated forest which is the scene in several films. From there, we went to Green Valley View. By this time, the cloud cover had increased considerably. Green Valley view is around 7000 feet above Mean Sea Level and used to be called "Suicide Point" earlier. On a clear day, the guide said that we could see the valley below. I am sure the view would be spectacular, but as it happened, all we saw was a "Grey cloud" view rather than the "green valley" !

    We walked along the forest to the entrance of Guna caves. The walk was a refreshing one.

    Next, we were deposited outside a shop that sold home made chocolates. It appears that everybody in Kodai makes chocolates ! I feel that every other shop advertises availability of home made chocolates with different nuts, raisins, flavours, etc. Our guide showed a shop that was approved by TN Government. The shopkeepers were also excellent marketing managers. They gently persuaded us to step in ("Please come in sir"), gave us free samples of chocolates ("This is butterscotch chocolate .... This is milk chocolate") and also showed us various oils (eucalyptus, etc.). After this marketing hardsell, it was inevitable that I bought chocolates.

    By this time it was nearly 2 p.m. Our guide promised us that he would take us to a hotel that made an excellent lunch. I was curious where we would be eating lunch. The name of the hotel that our guide selected ? Kodai Resorts ! There were visits to temples after lunch and my wife and I decided to break the tour at this point. For a change, we went to Kovai Annapoorna for lunch. For Rs. 55/- we got a fitful meal.

    It started raining when we returned to our hotel. It was just as well that we had brought our jackets and umbrellas. The Kodai rain was quite an experience. We spent some time relaxing at the hotel.

    In the evening, we decided to take a walk around the Kodai lake and then (if possible) do boating. This was a fateful decision ! The Kodai lake is loosely star shaped. We began at the end of the shops that we had seen the previous day. The lake curved away from the shops. I thought it was like a huge oval or circle. To put it simply, it wasn't ! The lake is star shaped, or to put it more accurately "blob" or "amoeba shaped" !! Just as we rounded a bend, we would get a new view of the lake ! The starting point, rather like the unattainable horizon, seemed to be just one bend away ! We saw lights that looked like the shops that we had seen the previous day just around a bend. We would go around the bend and see that the lights were NOT of the shops or that they were further away ! It was curious. Meanwhile, the rain had come down in buckets and even brought down the branch of a tree on the road. We were now in new territory and unfamiliar roads and the other factor was that there were hardly one or two people walking on the roads ! We asked them the way to the bus stand and were asked to keep on going along the lake ! There were a few stretches where only my wife and I were the people around for quite some distance. http://flickr.com/photos/fromkiran/2608037458/ shows a view of the lake at this point of time. It was almost scary ! On the other side of the road, we saw sprawling bungalows and villas built in the old colonial style. This looked like the upmarket side of Kodai. As the street lights came on, we finally reached a main road that took us to the bus stand.

    We decided to eat snacks at a coffee shop. Coffee never tasted as welcome as it did that evening !

    The next morning we again took photos of some of the plants in the resort. At 10:15 a.m., we checked out and took the Forest Tour. The bus took us to a place close to Silent Valley View. This is a spot where one can see the Vaigai dam. The clouds were not as thick as the previous day. We saw traces of green and the outlines of the hills. To get to this spot, we had to trek downwards a rocky path. Our guide took one look at the footwear that the women wore and declared that they would be better off borrowing hawaii slippers for just Rs. 10/- rather than risking the damage to their footwear. I don't know whether it was the prospect of the better grip in hawaii slippers or the risk of damaging their footwear, but quite a few ladies did opt for the hawaii slippers on rent ! My wife also chose to try on the hawaii slippers.

    We made good speed to reach Silent Valley View quickly. From there, we went right towards Dolphin's Nose. This is a rock whose profile looks somewhat like the nose of a dolphin. A photographer there helped us stand on the rock. A few meters from the edge of the rock, we were standing close to 7000 feet above sea level ! Still, there was no fear as such. Probably, the cloudy day helped us from being aware of our height.  http://flickr.com/photos/fromkiran/2608038190/ shows my wife and I on Dolphin's Nose. From there, we walked to Echo point. There was not much of an echo but the clouds cleared up while we were at Echo point. What we missed in sound effects, we gained in visual effects as we saw the hills and the greenery around us, as seen in http://flickr.com/photos/fromkiran/2607208383/ !

    Our next stop was the Pambar falls.  I think this is also called Bear Shola falls, but I could be mistaken. The water flows on rocks and there is a gentle downwards slope, visible in http://flickr.com/photos/fromkiran/2607208769/. Our guide took us for a walk along the falls. We walked barefoot and the water made parts of the track slippery. I slipped a couple of times, once in the water but the level was only ankle deep so there was no risk at all. There is a second falls that looks good to see, as seen in http://flickr.com/photos/fromkiran/2608039476/. We also a "Lion's Den" a small grotto or cavern.

    Our final stop was the La Salette church. By this time, my wife and I were ready to eat lunch and we didn't even step into the church. Once we finished lunch, we went to see Bryant Park located just opposite Coker's Walk. The park contains various species of flowers all helpfully named. Finally, we collected our luggage and prepared to bid Kodai goodbye.

    Compared to our onward journey to Kodai, the return was incident free. The bus left Kodai at 6 p.m. and we were in Bengalooru by 6:30 a.m. the next morning. We ate dinner at Reliance A1 Plaza in Dindigal.

    Apart from the memories, we also had the home made chocolates and photographs of flowers that make one wonder at the beauty that lies in nature !

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NOTE:

    I had originally written this blog in another site. Since that site is no longer accessible, I am uploading it in this blog at http://fewidlethoughts.blogspot.in/ using the same date as the original blog dates.

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